Celebrate Shark Week with scientists at Brewster Street Ice House in Corpus Christi

If you're looking to sink your teeth into something a little closer to home for Shark Week, then Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi can help you.

The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies is inviting the public to Brewster Street Ice House on July 24 — from 6 to 9 p.m. — to learn about sharks, win some prizes and talk with local researchers.

The event will also showcase episodes featuring the Harte Research Institute on Discovery Channel's Shark Week, which has had five episodes featuring the TAMUCC facility.

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We talked with Dr. Greg Stunz, a marine biology professor at TAMUCC and Endowed Chair for Fisheries and Ocean Health at the Harte Research Institute about local sharks, the institute's research and the upcoming event.

Caller-Times: To start off, what kind of sharks would people in this area be most likely to see?

Stunz: So, on Texas beaches, we have all the common shark species. What they're likely to see near shore are black tip [sharks], which are very common. There's a lot of small coastal sharks — as we tend to call them — like bonnethead sharks, which are like hammerheads but have smaller heads. We even have the charismatic sharks, like hammerheads and tiger sharks, so all the common sharks that people think of tend to occur in our waters.

Caller-Times: One of the main things you all highlight is shark tagging. Could you tell us more about that? 

Stunz: Shark populations, in general, are in decline and that concerns us because they are primarily in decline from overfishing. To better manage their populations and conserve their status, we need to know about their movement patterns and where they go and what they do. To do that, we tag them with a pretty advanced electrical tag in their fin. Whenever their fin breaches the surface, which is pretty common, we get a high-speed signal about where the (shark) is anywhere on the planet. The advantage of that is we never have to capture the shark.

Caller-Times: What do you do with the information you get from the tagging?

Stunz: Well, the main goal is to preserve their population, so we write scientific papers and work with scientific communities to give them that information, so they can manage the fisheries better. Now we also carry out large public awareness campaigns, like the event on (July) 24 to let people know that oceans are important to our well-being. If we don't have healthy oceans, then we won't have healthy people. Most people don't know that, but think sharks are cool, so we use events to get people more knowledgeable on our oceans.

Caller-Times: What is new about this year's Shark Week event?

Stunz: Last year's event was really successful, so we want to carry that on and show people our gear. We show how we catch the sharks. We'll have interactive computers going where you can see where our sharks are at any time. We'll have fun things for the kids like face painting and let them talk to scientists. There will be something for everybody.

Harte Institute Research Shark Week Live! Tuesday, July 24, 6 – 9 p.m. at Brewster Street Ice House,1724 N Tancahua St. The event is free and open to the public.